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| John White's map of the Carolina coast (drawn 1585-1590) reveals a patched area at the end of the peninsula at upper-left, at the confluence of the Chowan and Roanoke rivers. This site lies just 52 miles west of Roanoke Island, by way of Albemarle Sound. |
On March 3, 2012, the British Museum in London announced a major discovery: an important new lead towards solving the Roanoke mystery, in the form of a secret map feature previously unnoticed by generations of astute historians. Prompted by a research request by Brent Lane (a board member of the First Colony Foundation based in North Carolina, USA), imaging technicians at the British Museum performed multiple visual and chemical tests on John White’s original map of the Carolina coast. This chart, begun sometime between 1585-56, was the larger and more comprehensive of White’s two known watercolored maps depicting that coastline. Analysis confirmed the presence of two different corrective patches affixed to the map at some point in time. The first patch (“Patch 1”), at the directional south end of the map, was discovered to have been made to redefine/refine shorelines in the present-day region of southern North Carolina. The second patch (“Patch 2”, shown below, to the left-center of the photo),
is located toward the northwest end of the map and reveals two distinct images, one “correction” superimposed over the original: a large-scale fort, and a central grid axis running through two concentric squares surrounding and intersecting the “fort” image beneath. Together, both images form what appears to be a geometric system of planned roads or avenues centered around a fortress.
The Roanoke Lost Colony research community is heralding this as the intended location of the colonial Virginia capital: the fabled “Cittie of Raleigh”.
Initial Analysis
This discovery enables us now to make the following assertions with
confidence:
1. The site as now revealed on the White map, was at some point in time the intended
location for a large-scale, proportionally-ordered plantation settlement
centered around the protection of a large moated fort. At the confluence of two major river systems (where the Chowan and Roanoke rivers flow into Albemarle Sound), the strategic value of the place being far inland from Roanoke Island seemed logical at the time. However the geographic limitations of this site would have prevented such an ambitious construction plan, lending credence to the probability that:
--(a) the settlement plan as drawn was exaggerated in scale; or
--(b) White either lacked adequate familiarity with the site's terrain, or had rough plans to use two creek systems to feed the moat encircling the fort.
--(a) the settlement plan as drawn was exaggerated in scale; or
--(b) White either lacked adequate familiarity with the site's terrain, or had rough plans to use two creek systems to feed the moat encircling the fort.
2. Given John
White’s own previous statements revealing his colonists’ desire in 1587 to move their settlement to a place “50 miles into the maine”, the patched map site matches nearly that
exact distance from Roanoke Island, following a direct navigational path west through Albemarle Sound.
This gives much more credence to the possibility that the colonists knew of
this location and were inclined to remove their settlement to that place after
White’s departure to England for supplies.
3. The map patch
strongly suggests that the major settlement plan was altered or amended at least once
between 1585-1590, and underscores an attempt to keep the plan for the colony and its location secret.
“This Business of
Patching”
The act of
“patching” maps and illustrations was a common editing tool in the 16th
century, as it was the most pragmatic means of formal image correction in an
era long before such modern luxuries as White-Out, Xerox machines and Photoshop. Image reproduction in
those barely post-medieval days was a very timely and costly affair by today’s
standards. After technicians simply backlighted “Patch 2” with a lightbox, it proved to be much more than a simple
map correction: it revealed the original image (a large 4-pointed fort-like
structure colored in dark red ink, with what appears to be a surrounding moat colored in
dark blue indigo ink).
And a new “invisible” image--unseen for over 400 years by the naked eye, but finally betrayed in the form of light brown organic stains (probably lemon juice), was found on the outer surface of the patch by use of spectroscopy imaging:
This proves the secret intent of the newer image (street layout) while also obscuring the older one (fort and surrounding moat). Both the original map surface’s “fort” image and the overlying “street plan” patch correspond symmetrically with one another. The street plan perfectly bisects the center of the underlying fort image), revealing that the patch’s image was originally scribed and set—perhaps with intent to view and study afterwards--by way of “backlighting” the map. It is feasible that the patch was added while holding it up against a window. Further, the whole map at large has two main "east-to-west" creases in it, spaced evenly as if the tall-proportioned document were folded twice towards the center to conserve storage space: one crease (the upper/northernmost of the two) perfectly bisects both the fort and street plan image on the east-west axis. I find this unlikely to be coincidental.
And a new “invisible” image--unseen for over 400 years by the naked eye, but finally betrayed in the form of light brown organic stains (probably lemon juice), was found on the outer surface of the patch by use of spectroscopy imaging:
This proves the secret intent of the newer image (street layout) while also obscuring the older one (fort and surrounding moat). Both the original map surface’s “fort” image and the overlying “street plan” patch correspond symmetrically with one another. The street plan perfectly bisects the center of the underlying fort image), revealing that the patch’s image was originally scribed and set—perhaps with intent to view and study afterwards--by way of “backlighting” the map. It is feasible that the patch was added while holding it up against a window. Further, the whole map at large has two main "east-to-west" creases in it, spaced evenly as if the tall-proportioned document were folded twice towards the center to conserve storage space: one crease (the upper/northernmost of the two) perfectly bisects both the fort and street plan image on the east-west axis. I find this unlikely to be coincidental.
Through a combination of technical
imaging techniques which include photography of reflected light, infrared, x-ray radiation and a lightbox, the British Museum
discovered images both on and under the patch itself that were intentionally hidden by the
artist: images hidden for good reason.
Mysterious Editing
Explained
What can this map editing
job tell about the politics of the first English colonial efforts on the
Eastern coast of North America? Obviously it is not certain when the patches were
placed, though it seems not long after the map’s creation (1585-1590). “Patch
1” simply refined coastline definition and accuracy, and White’s handwriting
and artistic style in the editing is unmistakably obvious and therefore creates a mode of comparison with "Patch 2". Indeed, “Patch 2” suggests a
change in the general strategic colonization plan--most likely, either White's or the Virginia
Company’s unpublished plan for the general design, scope and location
of the first Royal colonial capital city in Virginia. Both the Virginia Company and
the English Crown had every incentive to prevent their Catholic, expansionist
Spanish enemies from discovering their own Protestant "squatter" presence in an area then claimed by Spain. England's colonial planners aimed to prevent total loss as the French colony of Fort Caroline had suffered at the hands of a merciless Spanish raiding party in 1564. Such a disaster could be precipitated by aggressive Spanish scouting expeditions, as well as spies in London, making map secrecy and classification of published information on colonization plans essential. Just one colonial failure could turn both major investors and willing colonists away, keeping England behind in the race for acquiring capital and profit in the New World.
Notice that neither the location of the Roanoke Island colony, nor the newly-discovered capital site as planned, were ever revealed in John White’s maps nor in other contemporaneous English publications. Because the same paint pigments (indigo and red lead) that were used in the original map were also used in “Patch 1”, and without any discernible stylistic difference, it appears that White himself made these edits to his own work during the time of his colonial adventures at Roanoke or short years after, as the English would effectively table any further American colonization efforts until 1607. The map edit could have been made perhaps as late as the early-1590s, when White made his last unsuccessful petitions for continued colonization efforts.
Upon White’s inglorious return to England in 1590, the English Crown had lost all faith investing in the swamps of present-day North Carolina, shying away from its shallow, treacherous shipping channels at the Outer Banks sandbars and bemoaning the inability to establish and resupply an enduring colonial settlement. Indeed it would take risk-taking individuals from the well-established Virginia colony 70 years later—motivated primarily by the lure of cheaper land and leadership opportunities--to finally migrate with critical mass into North Carolina. In my next blog installment I will examine the "secret" map site itself in more detail, and assess the possibility of finding evidence of the Roanoke colonists there.
Notice that neither the location of the Roanoke Island colony, nor the newly-discovered capital site as planned, were ever revealed in John White’s maps nor in other contemporaneous English publications. Because the same paint pigments (indigo and red lead) that were used in the original map were also used in “Patch 1”, and without any discernible stylistic difference, it appears that White himself made these edits to his own work during the time of his colonial adventures at Roanoke or short years after, as the English would effectively table any further American colonization efforts until 1607. The map edit could have been made perhaps as late as the early-1590s, when White made his last unsuccessful petitions for continued colonization efforts.
Upon White’s inglorious return to England in 1590, the English Crown had lost all faith investing in the swamps of present-day North Carolina, shying away from its shallow, treacherous shipping channels at the Outer Banks sandbars and bemoaning the inability to establish and resupply an enduring colonial settlement. Indeed it would take risk-taking individuals from the well-established Virginia colony 70 years later—motivated primarily by the lure of cheaper land and leadership opportunities--to finally migrate with critical mass into North Carolina. In my next blog installment I will examine the "secret" map site itself in more detail, and assess the possibility of finding evidence of the Roanoke colonists there.
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